Transcript
Speaker: Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, Where Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey.
Speaker: Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned about the craft. So get in witches for a deity episode. This time we're taking a look at the Celtic deity Sirona and the Gallic fairy Melusine.
Speaker: There was a movie that came out that I was really intrigued to watch because it was like a horror movie, but it's about like these podcasters. Okay. I was like, oh, this could be cool because it sounded like they would be podcasting and and sounds would come through while they were podcasting. And I'm like, this sounds- Which happens to us all the time. happens to us. It wasn't with the movie. it was It was bullshit. Don't watch it. Okay. So, yeah, I was very disappointed. I remember what it's called.
Speaker: You'll have to tell me so that I don't watch it. However, do you watch documentaries on Netflix? Yes. Have you watched Maternal Instinct? Yes. Oh, my fucking God.
Speaker: I watched that the other day and was just like shooketh at the end. i sat there. I just sat there like, what the fuck did I just watch? Right. And it's just like also how fucking stupid do you have to be? Right. like Oh, I'm just going to shove this fucking placenta in my panties. They're never going to know it didn't come from me.
Speaker: My favorite thing was that when the doctor had to do the check, he he was like, well, doesn't look like you had a baby in there. And he comes out and he was like, doesn't look like a baby came out of there. Yeah, like while he's still in the room with her, like, taking off his gloves. Yeah, he's cracking up. Baby.
Speaker: But also how incredibly fucking sad for the other family. That was so awful. here i like I didn't know anything about that whole situation. I just kept seeing this. It kept popping up like for you on my Netflix and I was like just hanging out.
Speaker: We were having like a lazy day and I was like, I think I'm just going to watch this and drink my coffee this morning and then it's out there just like – And just a shit show. Yeah. I came upstairs and Anthony was like, how was it? And I was like,
Speaker: fucking insane. most than insane. You know that poor man will never trust another person again. No. That's what she put him through. And then like that poor family lost their daughter, the guy's like wife, you know, yeah the baby. Like, oh, that was awful. But insanity. So if you love a good true crime documentary, i would 10 out of 10 recommend that. But do know that there is...
Speaker: like the death of a baby in it. So yeah, it is not a happy ending. No, no, it is insane though. If you like a good, like completely insane thing to watch.
Speaker: And the fact to like towards the end, I felt really bad for that guy because the mom was talking about how like, because they are in a very small community that everyone there, they think even him though he had nothing to do with it, they think that, he had something to do with it. And so he's ostracized in this community, which is sad. Yeah. And there was somebody else that they were like really good friends with who said that it wasn't even that for her. It was that like they all went through that. And so to continue to be friends with each other, they would have to like live through those memories. And I was like, that's awful because like not only did he go through that with that crazy person and
Speaker: You know, when he needs his friends the most, but like his friends are also losing their friendships because it's like, yeah I can't even like handle what just happened to all of us. And it's like just the destruction that this one person caused. Yeah. Yeah. To so many people. It's just so sad.
Speaker: Yeah. So sad. Super sad. We're not talking about crazy people, though. We're not. We're not. What are we talking about today? We're talking about – well, this is a deity episode. And we're talking about what was supposed to be two Gallic deities.
Speaker: However, mine is a fairy, so – Whoops. Oh, no.
Speaker: oh Well, I'll start us off with ah my deity that I covered is Sirona. So Sirona is an ancient Celtic goddess primarily associated with healing, sacred springs, fertility, abundance, and the life-giving powers of water.
Speaker: She's one of the healing goddesses from the Celtic pantheon, known through inscriptions, statues, and archaeological discoveries. Her worship flourished during the Roman occupation of Celtic Europe, roughly between the 1st and 3rd century CE, and as we know, rather than disappearing under Roman rule, many Celtic deities actually continued to be honored alongside Roman deities.
Speaker: Serona was frequently worshipped alongside Apollo from the Roman pantheon, who became associated with Celtic healing traditions. In inscriptions, she often appears as Apollo Serona, suggesting that the two were viewed as divine partners rather than one replacing the other.
Speaker: Unlike many Celtic deities whose stories survive mainly through medieval Irish or Welsh mythology, much of what we know about Sirona actually comes from archaeological evidence of statues, temple remains, inscriptions, and sacred spring sites, rather than written myth.
Speaker: Her name is thought to derive from a Celtic root meaning star, leading many scholars to interpret Sirona as the star goddess or she of the stars.
Speaker: While the exact linguistic origin is still debated, the connection between her name and the celestial imagery has remained influential in modern interpretations of her.
Speaker: Healing sanctuaries dedicated to Sirona were commonly built around natural springs and mineral waters. Pilgrims would travel to these sacred sites seeking healing, making offerings, and praying for health, fertility, and protection.
Speaker: Unlike other deities, Serona doesn't seem to have surviving mythological stories that describe her adventures or relationships, which really isn't unusual for many of the Celtic deities whose oral traditions were never fully written down.
Speaker: Instead of myths, archaeologists reconstruct her role through inscriptions, sculptures, temple remains, and devotional offerings that were left at sacred sites. She appears to have embodied the healing power of the natural world, especially springs and flowing water.
Speaker: Water was viewed by Celtic people as a bridge between the human world and the other world, making springs places of both physical and spiritual healing.
Speaker: Because she was paired with Apollo so frequently, some scholars believe Sirona represented the nurturing, restorative aspects of healing, while Apollo embodied medicine, prophecy, and the sun.
Speaker: Together, they formed complementary healing forces. Her worship emphasizes restoration rather than warfare or judgment. She represents healing that unfolds gradually through nature, nourishment, patience, and balance.
Speaker: If we look at her symbolism and her correspondences, things like sacred springs, wells, rivers, and flowing water are Sirona's strongest associations.
Speaker: Water represents cleansing, renewal, intuition, and emotional healing for her. Snakes are another of her symbols, and in ancient Celtic and Greco-Roman traditions, snakes represented healing, rebirth, transformation, wisdom, and the ability to shed what no longer served us.
Speaker: Eggs frequently appear in statues of Sirona. and They symbolize fertility, creation, new beginnings, abundance, and the potential for new life. Stars are a modern correspondence inspired by the likely meaning of her name, and many practitioners associate her with guidance, hope, illumination, and celestial wisdom.
Speaker: Bowls or offering dishes appear in some depictions representing nourishment, healing waters, and divine abundance. Sacred trees, especially willow and hazel, are often connected to her in modern Celtic spirituality because of their longstanding associations with water, healing, wisdom, and intuition.
Speaker: Colors commonly associated with Sirona include blue for water and healing, green for growth and nature, silver for moonlight and sacred springs, and white for purification and restoration.
Speaker: Herbs often dedicated to serona include mugwort, yarrow, meadowsweet, chamomile, vervain, willow bark, mint, and lavender. These associations are largely modern devotional correspondences inspired by her healing nature rather than historical evidence.
Speaker: Crystals commonly associated with her include aquamarine, moonstone, clear quartz, moss agate, and amethyst, all chosen for their symbolic connection to healing, intuition, and emotional balance. And then animals associated with Sirona include snakes, deer, swans, fish, and other creatures connected to water, renewal, or gentle healing.
Speaker: And if Serona is a deity that you are interested in learning more about and working with, just know that learning about her, there is not a lot of information that I can find, right? I basically am done other than this paragraph. So there was not a lot out there on her because again, there there isn't any stories like in folklore or mythology that you know, she's really mentioned it And most of what we have on her is because they found like historical things within archaeological digs versus like stories about her. So it's unfortunate, but there is a little bit out there.
Speaker: So to work with Serona, she can be approached during periods of physical recovery, emotional healing, grief, burnout, or major life transitions. She would be a great deity to work with if you are rebuilding rather than being getting something entirely new.
Speaker: Water offerings are among the most common devotional acts. Fresh spring water, clean drinking water, and then other things like milk, herbal teas, flowers, or biodegradable offerings placed respectfully near natural water were mentioned as ways to honor her. But please always follow local environmental guidelines and avoid leaving anything that could harm the wildlife or the surrounding environment.
Speaker: Like, just do the right thing, please. and And then you could create a healing altar that might include things like a bowl of water, shells, smooth river stones, candles in blue or white, healing herbs, star imagery, and representations of snakes or springs.
Speaker: You could spend time near natural springs, rivers, lakes, or streams where you take time to meditate, reflect, or simply listen to the moving water to connect with her energy. Herbal healing practices, gardening, caring for medicinal plants, or learning traditional herbalism are meaningful ways to honor Sirona since she is centered on healing through nature.
Speaker: Acts of caregiving is also a great way to connect with her. Volunteering, caring for loved ones, supporting someone through an illness, or tending to animals can all be considered devotional acts for her.
Speaker: um Another one would be journaling about emotional healing or practicing shadow work or even focusing on forgiveness and renewal. And because Serona is associated with patience and gradual healing, her presence is often seen as gentle rather than dramatic. So working with her is often less about receiving sudden revelations and it's more about learning to trust slow, sustainable growth.
Speaker: Outside of that, I could not find anything else on this deity. And I'm a little sad because I was really intrigued by her. so Yeah. so moving on to Melusine, my deity is not actually a deity at all, as I mentioned already. um But in my defense, okay, Melusine has often been reinterpreted throughout history as a goddess or a divine feminine figure.
Speaker: However, in all of the research that I did on Melusine, she was actually a fairy woman or a fae in French. She's often depicted as a mermaid, sometimes having two tails, as a serpent from the waist down, or even as a dragon. And she was also said to have inspired the story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. So and trust interesting bit of it.
Speaker: information there. Well, there is a, like either a show or a movie or something that has a character. Like it like a kid show with a character named Melisine. I'm going have to look that up. It's going to bother me.
Speaker: Yeah. I want to say it was a creature, like a dragon or something. Probably. Interesting. I don't know. I'll look it up while you do that. Okay. Melisine is often connected to water, liminal spaces, and the other world. And the version of Melisine most people know about comes from Jean de Raze's book on Melisine or the noble history of the Lusignan world.
Speaker: family, which was written in 1393. Even though these were written during the medieval times, Jean de Ross drew on older oral traditions about mysterious fairy women associated with springs, rivers, and sacred places, and the French family, Lusignan, claimed Melissine as their ancestor.
Speaker: Melissine was stated to be the daughter of the fairy Pracine and King Elinus of Scotland. The myth goes that King Elinus was hunting and he came across a well called the Well of Thirst where he hears Prasin singing. He falls in love with Prasin and asks her to marry him, and she agrees on the condition that when she gives birth, he does not attend to her while she's delivering.
Speaker: maybe only account that she's a fairy. I don't fucking know, honestly. But soon after, you know, he agrees and everything, they get married and soon Pristine becomes pregnant and they end up having triplets. Melisene, Melior, and Palatine.
Speaker: King Elinus was so overcome with emotion, finding out that his wife was giving birth to triplets, that he forgot the promise he made to Pristine and rushes into the room, which... pisses Prasine off.
Speaker: When Alinus breaks his promise to Prasine, she leaves Alinus and takes her daughters with her. And years later, Melisine and her sisters, after finding out that their father broke this promise to their mother, they punish him by magically imprisoning him. When they do this, their mother punishes Melisine by cursing her. She is banished from Avalon where they live, and every Saturday she transforms from the waist down into a serpent. The curse is stated to last until the Day of Judgment unless someone sees her in that form, and if they do see her in that form, then she permanently transitions into snake-dragon situation.
Speaker: So I was reading also she did – because I was just like, why did she just punish Melusine? She also punished her two sisters too, but like one of them was imprisoned with their dad as punishment and the other one I can't remember what her punishment was, but it's not important to the story.
Speaker: Later in life, she meets a knight named Raymond Dean after he accidentally kills his uncle during a hunting trip. Melissine offers to help him recover his status and fortune if he agrees to never attempt to see Melissine on Saturdays. He agrees and they end up getting married.
Speaker: So looking at some of the folklore surrounding Melusine, outside of being a magical wife, she is credited in history as an incredible builder. It's said that she constructed many castles, churches, abbeys, bridges, and entire towns in France. And many French castles were later attributed to Melusine because people couldn't imagine how they could be built if not for a magical fairy who transformed into a half snake on Saturdays, apparently. I don't know. So like, how are the pyramids built? I don't know. Aliens, right? so I don't know. Melusine.
Speaker: Melusine and Raymondine end up having 10 sons, o ah which many of whom possess unusual physical traits, like having animal-like ears, unusual birthmarks, great strength, or one of them had like having a very large eye, just the one though. there Their children weren't looked at monsters, though, but they were features that were supposedly signs of their magical lineage.
Speaker: I wonder if this would have changed if she had 10 daughters. You know what i mean? know Who knows? Their children were also said to be the founders of many of the noble houses throughout Europe.
Speaker: And over time, Raymond Dean became curious about Melusine and he spies on her during her Saturday bath, where he of course discovers her in her half-serpent form. Can just talk about how often we come across...
Speaker: This random character, like, whether it's a deity or somebody in the story in a bath situation and somebody's always spying. Someone's always spying. Always. The amount of times we have said this in, like, folklore and mythology in these episodes is ridiculous. Yeah.
Speaker: And also, like, can we not just respect when the doors close? Literally. It was private time, thank you. Literally. It was their favorite pastime, apparently. Apparently. Over time, Raymond Dean – well, also, okay But additionally, too, in France during like this time period, I'm assuming, up through well past like the French Revolution, they didn't take baths like that. So I wonder he's just like, this bitch takes a bath every Saturday. What is she doing new and doing in there?
Speaker: This feels wrong. This feels wrong. Initially, he keeps her secret, but then he later publicly calls her a serpent during an argument, which in turn breaks his promise and trust. And when this happens, Melisine transforms permanently and flies away, which I'm not sure how she did that in a serpent form, but some accounts- Maybe. say that It was like a dragon like a dragon situation. some Some say that she flew, like just jumped out the window. i don't know. She leaves.
Speaker: um But she keeps a watch on her children throughout their lives from afar, which is really sad. But looking at more of the folkloric theme surrounding Melisine, one of the biggest ones is keeping promises. and every version of the story of Melisine, there's a focus on keeping your promise and and the story center on trust. The tragedy doesn't have anything to do with her supernatural powers or the curse her mother placed on her, but it has to do with the fact that her husband Raymond Dean couldn't keep his promise and respect the boundary that she set.
Speaker: There's also the folkloric theme of female power. Melusine is wealthy, intelligent, an architect, and the one who is responsible for her husband's success. If it wasn't for her, he would have been fucking ostracized and probably killed for killing his uncle by accident. and The fact that these stories were written down during the medieval period to have a female written in this way wasn't the norm, so I think that that's pretty important.
Speaker: Yeah. Another folkloric theme centers around transformation. Her serpent form represents more than a curse. It is a tie to the other world between, you know, this this world between the human and the fairy and the wife versus a supernatural being. And then lastly, water. Melusine is almost always connected in some way to water from baths, rivers, springs, wells, or fountains. Water represents secrecy and a place for transformation for melusine.
Speaker: So looking at some symbolism. Symbolism associated with Melusine include things like the serpent, which, of course, links back to transformation, hidden identity, wisdom, ancient power, and otherworldliness.
Speaker: the day of the week of Saturday. And this is where Melusine belongs entirely to herself. It's a day of a boundary that must be respected. And when I looked up Saturday symbolism, it is a day of boundaries and limits, which I thought, oh, okay. So yeah. yeah And then the bath, the bath is associated with privacy, vulnerability, transformation, and is the meeting place between Melusine's human and supernatural forms.
Speaker: And then also the symbol of a builder. Melusine is associated with the builder, ties back to civilization, prosperity, legacy, creation, etc.
Speaker: And so if you're wanting to work with Melusine, just like with Tiffany's deity, there is like no information on ways in which you can work with Melusine in your practice because there really isn't a historical, traditional devotional practice centered on Melusine. mainly because she's a literary and folkloric figure.
Speaker: But considering the symbolism and folklore attached to Melusine, there are some good places to start. So if you would like to honor Melusine, you could do this through water magic, specifically water divination or scrying, using water in your rituals, meditating beside a body of water, collecting rainwater or moon water for your ritual uses, or even taking ritual or spiritual baths.
Speaker: You could also honor melisine on Saturdays by honoring your own personal boundaries. Maybe take Saturday as a self-care day for yourself and as a way for transformation, privacy, reflection, cetera.
Speaker: And as for offerings, Go, these are all off the cuff. There is no historical basis for this. This is just after doing my own research thinking what would be a good offering if you wanted to have maybe an altar set up to honor melisine.
Speaker: You could include any flowers that are associated with water that grow in water, something like water lilies, um or just water itself that you've collected, again, through rainwater, moonwater.
Speaker: If you want to set water outside in the sun and make solar water, any of that would be a great offering. Also, any shells or stones that you've collected from bodies of water. and also serpents.
Speaker: You could include like maybe a drawing of a serpent or a figurine of a serpent to symbolize rebirth, transformation, luminality. And then as far as colors go, if you're wanting to decorate an altar to honor Melusine, I would imagine using colors that are associated with royalty or nobility. So royal blues and purples, golds, things like that. or colors that represent the ocean or other bodies of water like blue silver or white but that is a bit about melisine and it wasn't a show it was a video game called raven's watch melisine is a playable character in there and she's a siren she's a human so that can be a siren or a mermaid i believe oh yeah i like that yeah yeah i was like i know there was something and then it was like nintendo switch raven's watch i was like oh Yeah. that
Speaker: That's a wrap on this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. We hope you had as much fun as we did. If you loved this episode, we'd be eternally grateful if you left us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts. It helps more witches, seekers, and magical misfits find our show.
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Speaker: Join us next week as we sit down with the practitioner, energy healer, educator, animal communicator, and psychic medium, Kimmy Halaburda. Until then, stay magical, stay curious, and as always, blessed be witches.
